The Educational Self-determination Of Native Americans In The United States

Up to the present, almost half of the Native Americans have settled onreservations. As times moves on, they have to accept the mainstream culture in orderto better live in the United States. The problem is that most of them have not gotsufficient education, and higher education is still urgently needed to them. In the past,although the American government had adopted many policies to guarantee NativeAmericans to enjoy the same opportunity to receive higher education together withthe white people, it seldom put the features of Native American cultures intoconsideration. Native Americans tended to resist those government policies throughstarting higher education with their own features. In their view, Native Americansshould enjoy the same rights to organize and manage their education, and their highereducation should also be recognized by the American higher education system.However, in order to live in such a modern American society, NativeAmericans have to adapt to the mainstream culture, and learn necessary skills so thatthey could gain abilities to equally compete with other nations. It seems to be aparadox for Native American development.In the late1960s, deeply influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and theAmerican Indian “Self-determination” Movement, the first Tribal Colleges andUniversities (TCUs) were set up as a way to strengthen tribal higher education andpreserve Indian culture on reservations. After over forty years, the number of TribalColleges and Universities has grown to thirty seven, with more than seventy fivesites in the United States and one in Canada. Tribal Colleges and Universities havedeveloped a unique education philosophy. It combines the teaching of AmericanIndian languages, history and culture with school curricula, such as English literature,mathematics, science and technology. Due to their special locations, these collegescan better serve Native American students and local communities. Nowadays, TCUshave become increasingly important to American Indian students for seizing better educational opportunity and they will continue to play the important role in NativeAmerican culture preservation.In this paper, it will bring forward the idea that Tribal Colleges andUniversities infuse new blood into American Indian culture preservation throughvarious practice, such as by establishing culture-centered curricula. It mainly consistsof three chapters. Chapter one will firstly analyze the factors that threaten theexistence of Native American culture, trying to find the core reasons which lead tothe loss of traditional culture of Native Americans. Then it illustrates the efforts madeboth by Indians and the whole country to preserve the First Nation’s culture. At last,it comes to the representative way to culture preservation featured by tribal collegesand universities and brings forward the goal of Native American higher education inthe new era.Chapter two then explores the means based on tribal cultures to strengthenNative American higher education adopted by Tribal Colleges and Universities,mainly focusing on the innovation of curricula, the situations of students andfaculties.Moreover, Chapter three emphasizes tribal culture preservation in TribalColleges and Universities. It firstly elaborates the students’ service that TribalColleges and Universities provide, such as special training for tribal agriculture,personal career planning and so on. Then it reveals the intimate relations betweenTribal Colleges and Universities and their communities.In the end, it comes to the conclusion, confirming the positive role that tribalcolleges and universities play in the development of Native American highereducation and in the tribal culture preservation, and meanwhile pointing out thedeficiencies of this thesis.